Ravens Dedicate Saturday’s Practice to Jacoby Jones

After a false start to his return to training camp on Wednesday, Lamar Jackson looked reinvigorated to start Saturday’s practice, rewarding his customary warm welcome from the Ravens fans in attendance with a solid practice featuring the offense’s best drive of the summer.

Jackson’s energy and demeanor was night-and-day from his brief appearance on Wednesday. After his warmup, he made a one-handed catch (thrown by Tyler Linderbaum) in front of an adoring crowd, a clear indicator that the two-time MVP was feeling like himself again.

The return of Lamar Jackson energizes training camp. Listen when Jackson makes a catch at the start of practice. pic.twitter.com/mz4oixUhVY

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) July 27, 2024

Any remaining doubts were washed away by Jackson’s arm during the early 7-on-7 portion of practice. His passes had plenty of zip on them – in some cases, too much with a few early overthrows of his receivers deep.

Two of those overthrows seemed like miscommunications with his receivers. First, Jackson launched a deep ball intended for Rashod Bateman, who had already turned around to sit down on his route. The ball fell harmlessly to the turf that time, but a few minutes later, Jackson overthrew Nelson Agholor down the right sideline right to Marlon Humphrey for an easy interception.

Other than that, Jackson appeared to back to business as usual, consistently finding his tight ends underneath while taking a few deep shots down the sideline, including deep touchdowns to Qadir Ismail and Tylan Wallace down the left side.

Jackson’s most impressive sequence came in the second half of Saturday’s practice, in a situational two-minute drill with the offense trailing by five points with 1:20 to play and just one timeout. Jackson completed five of his six passes on the drive, starting with quick passes to Mark Andrews and Bateman – who adjusted to a ball slightly behind him – for a first down. Andrews then lined up in the slot and beat Arthur Maulet up the seam with a leaping grab for one of his biggest plays of training camp so far. Jackson then overthrew Bateman on an end zone fade before finding Isaiah Likely in space for some YAC. Nelson Agholor ended the drive by beating Maulet for a touchdown on the right side and giving the ball away to a lucky young fan.

“I thought [Jackson] did really well, especially considering the fact that he’s had to come back from being sick,” said John Harbaugh after practice. “I know he worked really hard to get out here…, and even as practice went on, you could see him kind of finding himself more and more. I was really happy about it.”

The offense did stutter slightly with miscommunications during a goal-to-go drill. Andrews and Agholor committed simultaneous false starts, then the offense couldn’t get their play call together on the next snap.

Overall, though, the offense operated much smoother with Jackson under center. There was a steady flow of completions plus the occasional deep shots that were more successful than previous practices. Devontez Walker made a few plays with a touchdown from Josh Johnson and increasing comfort sitting down against zone coverage. He had a competitive rep against Brandon Stephens that ended with the two fighting for the ball on the ground (tie goes to the receiver.) Isaiah Washington high-pointed a ball over Ar’Darius Washington and Sean Ryan caught a tough slot fade from Johnson.

It wasn’t just the passing game, either. Michael Pierce admitted after practice that it was “not fun” to meet Derrick Henry in the A gap, and Justice Hill ran hard throughout the day as well.

Isaiah Likely is very excited about his emerging versatile role in the Ravens offense. Aims to be the “nightmare everyone wants me to be.” Full answer below: pic.twitter.com/6iwMP0QEgT

— Nikhil Mehta (@nikknowsball) July 27, 2024

Don’t mistake the offense’s success for a lack of execution on the defense’s part, either. They had their fair share of highlight plays, including a few pass breakups by Ka’dar Hollman, Ar’Darius Washington, and Christian Matthew. Humphrey had another strong practice, as did Nate Wiggins, who blanketed most of his assignments and secured another interception off of Emory Jones.

Tavius Robinson stacked another nice practice with a few sacks, beating Patrick Mekari for one of them to combine with Justin Madubuike who got past Daniel Faalele.

Injury Updates

Harbaugh provided the media with a number of injury updates, starting with cornerback Trayvon Mullen, who had to be carted off the field during Saturday’s practice. Mullen fell on his shoulder and was still being evaluated when Harbaugh spoke to the press.

Rookies Adisa Isaac, T.J. Tampa and Yvandy Rigby didn’t participate in Saturday’s practice. Isaac is dealing with a hamstring issue that has plagued him since before the NFL Scouting Combine in March, while Tampa is recovering from sports hernia surgery. Rigby, an undrafted rookie ILB, has a soft tissue lower leg injury.

“Certainly frustrating for those guys. They want to be out here, but you can’t bring them out too soon, or they do it again, and then you have another five to six weeks,” said Harbaugh. “So, we’re trying to do right by those guys, and honestly, hold them back just a little bit, so when they come back, they’re ready to go.”

Harbaugh also told the media that Zay Flowers was excused from Saturday’s practice for a wedding that was important to the second-year receiver.

Tribute to Jacoby

Justin Tucker was also absent on Saturday, having joined a contingent of Ravens’ staff and ex-players who attended Jacoby Jones’ funeral in New Orleans.

John Harbaugh said that Saturday’s training camp was “a celebration of Jacoby Jones,” and dedicated the practice to his former wide receiver.

“We dedicated practice today to Jacoby Jones.” Coach Harbaugh opens up his presser pic.twitter.com/b3mdtRQ8cc

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 27, 2024

Ravens staff were wearing bandanas adorned with Jones’ 12 jersey number, and also handed out wristbands to fans in attendance.

Ravens staff are wearing 12 bandanas today to honor Jacoby Jones pic.twitter.com/2ig15hSSCO

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) July 27, 2024

The Ravens also handed out these wristbands to fans attending today’s practice. pic.twitter.com/o7CBvHEgxx

— Nikhil Mehta (@nikknowsball) July 27, 2024

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